Google travel

Can a search giant shake up the travel industry?

ALMOST everyone has a favourite travel site. I like Kayak's simple layout and ease of use. Other folks like Travelocity, Expedia, Hotwire, or something else entirely. But people don't generally think of Google as a travel destination. The search giant wants to change that, USA Todayreports:

In March, Google added hotel links to its Maps application, listing hotels with room rates available to some users.

Google also is reportedly in talks to pay $1 billion to acquire ITA Software, which develops fare-shopping software for online travel agencies, airlines and fare-search-only sites, such as Bing Travel and Kayak.

[...]

Analysts say Google is interested in providing information but not offering bookings. Google relies on advertising revenue from online travel agencies and has said in the past it doesn't want to engage in transactions. "I doubt Google would ever want to take a reservation," Kaufer says.

Norm Rose, president of Travel Tech Consulting, says Google will likely rely on other sites for buying tickets. "If you hear that it's bad news for online travel agencies, it's premature," he says.

But if Google moves to offer fare results, it could threaten shopping sites that similarly provide only fares. "It could be difficult for sites like Kayak to maintain competitiveness," Rose says.

This does sound like bad news for Kayak. But 60 percent of travellers already start their planning with a search engine, so this move can't come as a total surprise to travel-only sites. Anyone who has read Google's mission statement ("to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful") had to have seen this coming. And on balance, getting the internet's most important search company into the travel business is probably a good thing for travellers. Google excels at making search simple and intuitive, and one hopes that it would bring that same spirit to travel listings.

Still, Google has some catching up to do. Microsoft bought a company called Farecast two years ago and used its software to create Bing Travel, a subdivision of its search engine, Bing. Ever wondered whether the fare you're looking at is going to come down in the next few weeks? Bing Travel can try to predict that for you.

Most of the cooler things that Google could do with iTA are along the same lines as what Microsoft has done with Farecast and Bing Travel. Even simply integrating travel information with pre-existing products like Google Maps, Google Calendar, and so on could make a big difference for travellers. I'd love to be able to see the cheapest flights to a city when I search for it in Google. What would you like to see Google do with travel information?

Readers' comments

If Google can provide me with accurate and up to date flight price information without it suddenly spiking between selection and payment, I'll be a Google flight shopper for life.

I refuse to use Expedia anymore after trying to buy a Shanghai-Chicago round trip ticket last year. They kept quoting me at $1000 USD throughout the search, but the moment I'm ready to enter my credit card information, they tell me that the price had been increased by $500 dollars. New subsequent searches did not reflect the supposed $500 dollar increase; it only came into view after you've clicked and expressed your intent to buy that ticket.

So, if Google can stop these ridiculous abuses from occuring on their flight searches, then I'll happily use them exclusively.

"Anyone who has read Google's mission statement had to have seen this coming."

Not to mention, anyone who has observed Google's inability to see anything happen with interconnectivity or online software and refrain from introducing a "me-too" product. Though, perhaps not entirely unfortunately, some of these are half-baked efforts in which they lose interest when their own hype isn't met.

Google certainly has the potential to seriously affect air fare search. What the public needs to understand is that the complexity of how fares are decided by the airlines will remain. Those fares are determined by the carriers own yield management systems and not by intermediaries like Expedia or travel searchers like Kayak. They just display whatever fare they find and as every site, including the airline's state no price is guaranteed until the booking is made and fare paid. None of that reality will change with Google's entry.

Definitely seems like Expedia doesn't offer the best choices anymore. I use Expedia as a baseline, then scoot over to Hotwire which I've used numerous times for hotels. Have never used it for airplane tickets and car rental, wonder if that's any good. Though, I did get a good deal on Expedia for 650 bucks for a Princess Alaska week cruise, so not all's lost. I usually use Sniptrip then to document my trip for self-planning and also quick sharing with friends and family.

I second Riph's comment. A few years ago I also experienced - on a couple of occasions - similar last-moment price hikes when using Yahoo Travel; as with Riph's Expedia experience, those increases would also "disappear" on subsequent searches. I don't know if the cause of this was with Yahoo or with its partners, but it was a huge turn off and I eventually gave up on what could have been a great service. I generally try to be cautious about wholesale brand endorsements, but I'd be surprised and disappointed if Google allows the same sort of deceit and trickery in their searches!

How about an overlay on Google Maps showing flight routes (or like that awesome graphic on the article about the impact of that volcano on EU flights). Or directions to cities via airports (and working out the trip cost). A search for all return flights under $XXX from a particular location so you can buy a cheap holiday at short notice.